Free Tethered by M.L. Young Page B

and I like it when guys think outside of the box.”
    A few minutes went by and our food hadn’t been brought out yet . I could see and smell it cooking, which was amazing considering there were so many smells in the area, and our conversation had pretty much ended, until Tom brought up a subject I was hoping I’d be able to avoid.
    “So, I’ve been thinking a lot, and quite frankly, I like you . I know this is only our second date, if you call the other day a date, but I think you’re really nice, sweet, and just a great girl. I’ve been wondering, since we haven’t talked about it much, are you seeing or talking to anyone else? It’s cool if you are, I get it, it’s college and everything, but I guess I would just sleep better at night if I knew if I had to compete with somebody,” Tom said.
    “Al l right, kids, here you go,” the chef said as he set the food down in front of us and walked away, snorting up a loogie and spitting it into a trash can.
    In the few seconds I had before I had to answer him, I tried to think of what I should even say . There was Kurt, but we were far from a thing. I was probably overthinking this right now, but what if something happened and Tom found out about him? After all, Morgan and a bunch of other people knew I went out with Kurt, so it could be thought or argued that we had a great time and were talking to each other on the side. Tom was such a great guy, and I wanted to say I was completely single and available, but I wasn’t sure if that was the absolute truth.
    “I used to talk to someone not too far back, but that’s over with now,” I replied, not telling the truth, but not exactly lying either.
    “How come things ended, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    Shit . I knew this was a bad idea. I was a horrible liar, and Tom had to be seeing right through me. I was starting our relationship foundation on cards, and now this house was tumbling over.
    “Well, he just wasn’t mature enough . He’s really self-absorbed and cocky, and I just couldn’t handle it any longer, so I broke things off.”
    Well, i t was true that Kurt was really self-absorbed and cocky, even if I wasn’t the one to break things off, if there even were things there in the first place.
    “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that . Yeah, a lot of guys on campus are really cocky. It gets old after a while, but some of their mentalities are still in high school and not college,” Tom said before taking a bite of his burger.
    “Yeah, they really are,” I said, trying to keep up the illusion that I was talking about a guy on campus and not a guy who just played an undercover drug agent , acting as if he were in college, in his movie, The University of Kush .
    I picked up a single fry, the salt-laced spud running along my lips as I put it in my mouth and was overloaded with sodium and grease . I winced, for my stomach wasn’t up to this task, but quickly took a drink and made a sound indicating I liked the fries, which I continued to eat even though they were horrible. The things we did when out with a guy for the first time.
    As Tom was finishing his meal, I felt my phone buzz inside my purse, which was pushed up against my right thigh . My mom usually called me on Sunday nights for our weekly chat, and I had totally forgotten that I never told her I’d be busy. I took out my phone, about to text her and let her know I’d have to call her tomorrow, but once I saw the screen, it wasn’t from my mom, and this was going to take more precedence.
    It was Kurt…texting me as I sat across from Tom. I conjured up about ten expletives in my head that I couldn’t repeat, and clicked to open the text, which taunted me to know what was inside, even though it clearly wasn’t a good choice.
     
    “I need to talk with you”
     
    “Got a text?” Tom asked as he had caught me with my phone.
    “Yeah, sorry, my mom was asking me a question .” I clicked delete on the text and put my phone back into my purse.
    “Oh ,